Carrier reportedly thinks its acclaimed service warrants a hefty premium

According
to multiple sources, T-Mobile and Sprint are
targeting a price of $400 with new data contract for the 3G-ready
7-inch Samsung
Galaxy Tab tablet computer. At that price, the tablet,
which packs the Android OS (Version 2.2 "Froyo") may make
quite a splash, vying with the iPad for tablet supremacy.

However,
Verizon, the first carrier to officiallyrelease
a price, has surprised observers and bumped up its price
substantially. It announced that the Galaxy Tab will be
available November 11 for a flat price of $599.99. Customers can add a
contract will give customers access to a capped 1 GB of data a month
for $20.

Verizon's vice president and chief marketing officer
Marni Walden, "This is an incredible time in mobile technology,
and as a company we're excited to add the Samsung Galaxy Tab to our
portfolio. The Samsung Galaxy Tab brings together the
reliability of Verizon Wireless' 3G network and the power of Android
2.2 to deliver on our promise of providing consumers and business
customers with a host of options to help manage their lives."

Let's
hope that T-Mobile and Sprint don't follow in suit. Does
Verizon think its service, which is second only to AT&T in data
quality and coverage is worth the premium? (AT&T is also
getting the Galaxy Tab at a later date at an undisclosed
price.)

While customers purchasing the tablet should be able to take it to Sprint equivalent CDMA network if they should choose, they miss out on the price cut that will reportedly be offered by Sprint or T-Mobile. So in other words, by only offering customers an unlock tablet, Verizon gives them freedom to leave, but at a $200 cost.

It's chief competition is the iPad
which retails for
$500, $600, and $700 for the Wi-Fi only model in 16, 32, and 64 GB
flavors – and an extra $130 for each of those models with 3G modem
built in (service is provided by AT&T).

By
contrast the iPad also packs a 1 GHz processor and packs a larger
1024 × 768 9.7-inch screen. But it features less memory (256
MB), no camera, an inferior GPU (PowerVR SGX 535 GPU), and no
Bluetooth 3.0 support (only Bluetooth 2.1 is supported). Of
course iPad fans response to these shortcomings will likely be "I
don't care... It is the best tablet... it has the iMagic."
(Apple dubs
its tablet a "magical and revolutionary experience",
according to its store banner -- something that Samsung doesn't try
to claim).

The Galaxy Tab will also compete with Dell's
7-inch Streak which has less flash storage, Android 2.1 (2.2
upgrade forthcoming), a lower resolution screen, and no Bluetooth 3.0
support.

"I'd be pissed too, but you didn't have to go all Minority Report on his ass!" -- Jon Stewart on police raiding Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's home